


Bloody Fists Make For Bloody Hearts

by cherylbarrel



Category: Riverdale (TV 2017)
Genre: Angst, Blood, Cheryl Blossom Needs a Hug, Established Relationship, F/F, Fighting, Hurt/Comfort, Protective Cheryl Blossom, Protective Toni Topaz, Southside Serpent Cheryl Blossom, cheryl beats someone up, everyones messed up but especially cheryl, my core four toni cheryl sweet pea and fangs
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-19
Updated: 2018-07-19
Packaged: 2019-06-13 05:12:57
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,366
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15357021
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/cherylbarrel/pseuds/cherylbarrel
Summary: "Cheryl’s always had an affinity for the colour red, but she can’t say she’s ever felt red. Not until this exact moment right now."Cheryl, Toni, Sweet Pea, and Fangs find themselves in some trouble with a group of ghoulies. Cheryl's biggest fear when joining the serpents was having to physically fight anyone, but she's realized an even bigger fear of hers is losing Toni.





	Bloody Fists Make For Bloody Hearts

**Author's Note:**

> so i've been working on a different choni fic for a while, but seem to have a block with it right now, so i wrote this hoping to bring my motivation back. hope you enjoy it!

Cheryl’s always been prone to going a little too far. 

Everything she did had to be done with one hundred and one percent effort. It didn’t matter if her actions were good natured, or not. She would be the best, at absolutely everything she did, even the things that were more ill intended. 

She kept up her 4.0 GPA at school, through tedious studying, extra credit assignments, and a lot of fake smiles and pleading sob stories to her various teachers. If she was going to be smart, then she was going to commit to being the smartest student Riverdale High had to offer. 

When Cheryl burned Thornhill down, she made sure to take every last corner of that haunted house down to the ground, engulfed by the flames and promptly turned to ash. If she was going to burn her childhood home to a crisp, then she was going to make sure not a single wall stood in the wake. 

It didn’t matter, good or bad, Cheryl always went too far. 

She had but one exception. 

Only one. 

She would do anything, she would scheme and plot, and trick and manipulate all her heart desired, and she would make sure she did so perfectly, and abundantly. 

The one thing she would never do, is abuse. 

Cheryl Blossom braved against her mother’s cruel hits and harsh slaps her entire life. From bruises littering her arms, to blood dripping down her forehead, her mother has hurt her in a thousand different ways, all carrying a similar sting in Cheryl’s heart. 

She didn’t want to be her mother. She didn’t _ever_ want to be anything close to her mother. 

So instead she learned how to rip people to shreds with nothing more than her words, and how to manipulate a situation in her favour using an armoury of blackmail and her own wits. 

She got what she wanted through careful and meticulous plotting, taking her time, and waiting for the perfect opportunity to strike. 

What she would never allow herself to do, is to hit someone. Even after countless encounters with the wandering hands of drunk boys at parties, or the disapproving glares of her parent’s sleazy business colleagues, she has never laid a hand on another person. 

She was not her mother. 

Cheryl was flawed, no doubt. Her sanity was questionable, at best, and her inability to know when enough was enough, was frightening to say the least. But she didn’t care about any of that. She didn’t care how many people called her a crazy bitch, as long as they never compared her to Penelope Blossom. 

She believes that’s the one thing she has control over. She believes that, up until she falls in love with Toni Topaz. 

Falling in love with Toni has changed everything Cheryl has ever believed about herself, and really, she shouldn’t be surprised it changed this too. 

They’re outside the Whyte Wyrm. Cheryl, Toni, Sweet Pea, and Fangs were all exiting the bar after hanging out there for the duration of Toni’s shift. 

The four of them have become quite close, well, three of them already were, but the addition of Cheryl into their little group has made them whole. Cheryl gets along with Toni’s friends easily, feeling grateful and relieved that she finally has a family who cares about her. In turn, she has found herself caring for Sweet Pea and Fangs just as strongly as she does for Toni. These are the people who have taken her in, shown her real love, real support, and she’d protect them with her life if she had too. 

They’re exiting the bar, Sweet Pea and Fangs are both slightly tipsy, and Cheryl and Toni are laughing at their antics as they stumble off into the parking lot where Cheryl’s cherry red convertible awaits them. 

Everything’s going fine, until it isn’t. 

A few ghoulies come emerging from the shadows, clearly waiting for them with tense jaws, and blades gripped in their fists. 

The first thing Toni does is push Cheryl back behind her. Despite the red leather serpent jacket that adorns her shoulders now, Toni has always been protective of Cheryl, believing her seniority in the serpents gives her some sort of edge in these dangerous matters. Cheryl knows it doesn’t. Toni is just as likely to get herself hurt as Cheryl is, and although Toni’s selfless nature is admirable, she wishes her girlfriend would have more consideration for her own life. 

Sweet Pea and Fangs straighten up instantly, fishing around in their pockets for their own blades, trying to shake the tipsy haze from their brains. 

“What do you want?” Toni speaks up first, standing her ground, and ensuring these ghoulies don’t suspect an ounce of weakness in her. 

There’s three of them, and although outnumbered, the small group of ghoulies are bigger, stronger, and a lot angrier. 

“Couple of your serpents stole a shit ton of our product, we’re here to collect the debt we’re owed,” the first ghoulie bites out, his whole body tense with seething rage, gripping his knife until his knuckles are white. 

“We have nothing to do with that,” Sweet Pea exclaims, getting up into the boy’s faces with his own switchblade. 

“No,” a different ghoulie answers, “but you’re good friends with your precious king Jughead Jones, aren’t you?” he taunts. “You can deliver our message to him.” 

That’s all it takes before the three ghoulie boys are jumping on them. One takes on Sweet Pea, the other advancing towards Fangs, while the last comes bearing towards Toni and Cheryl. 

The pink haired girl pushes Cheryl further back right before the ghoulie grabs Toni, swinging her around and throwing her on the pavement below them. 

Cheryl regains her balance, and watches helplessly as the other three fight off their attackers. 

She wants to help, she knows she needs to help, but she finds herself frozen in place. She doesn’t want to be an _abuser_. It was her biggest fear when joining the serpents, and although she would never in a million years regret her choice to be apart of this gang, she still spent countless nights, her bottom lip between her teeth, worrying about having to physically fight others. 

Toni caught on to her nervous behaviour, and after the two talked about it, Toni promised her she would never have to fight anyone, she promised Cheryl that she would personally make sure of it. 

It comforted Cheryl, but deep down she still knew that the time may come that neither her or Toni have any choice in the matter. 

Like now, with three cheated ghoulies beating her friends up in a parking lot, while she stands there doing nothing about it. 

Toni managed to knock the knife away from her attacker, but he now has his hands wrapped around her neck on top of her, and as much as Toni desperately kicks and claws at the boy, he isn’t budging. 

Cheryl desperately looks to Sweet Pea and Fangs, each still caught up in a fist fight against their own ghoulie. Neither of them are in a life threatening position, but still, neither of them are in a position to be able to help Toni either. 

If Cheryl doesn’t do anything, that ghoulie bastard is going to kill Toni, she realizes. 

Cheryl feels her whole head spinning at the prospect, she can’t lose Toni. 

_No, no, no._

She squeezes her eyes shut, feeling her fists tighten at her sides and her fingernails cutting into her palms. 

Toni’s erratic movements in attempt to escape the ghoulie’s hold have already weakened, as she loses more and more oxygen, and her limbs are going limp, and her vision is becoming blurry. 

She thinks this is it, her short seventeen years of life is about to come to an end, and the last thing she will ever see, will be this boy practically foaming at the mouth above her, a sadistic expression painted on his face as he watches the life drain out of hers. 

She wishes she could see Cheryl instead. Cheryl’s beautiful face, with her teasing grin across her cherry lips, and dark, enchanting eyes watching Toni’s so intently. Cheryl’s the greatest thing to have ever happened to her, and just as Toni’s feeling her lungs desperately gasp for one last breath of air, her lips turn up in a small smile as her mind fills with images of her wonderful girlfriend. 

But then, the pressure from atop her disappears, and she springs up, a hand clutching her chest as she gasps and sputters for air to re enter her body. 

Toni takes deep breaths, and casts a glance behind her to see Sweet Pea send a punch across his attacker’s face that effetely knocks him out, leaving him unconscious on the ground while Sweet Pea kneels down beside him trying to catch his own breath. Another glance to her left and she sees the boy fighting with Fangs take a fearful look around him, before bolting off away from the parking lot with a slight limp in his leg. Fangs is gripping his bicep with a hiss where the ghoulie managed to cut him with his knife. 

Her boys are safe, and Toni feels utterly relieved at that fact, but that’s before she remembers Cheryl. 

“Cheryl,” she breathes on instinct, still feeling incredibly weak, and barely managing to pull herself up from the ground, but determinedly doing so anyway. 

When she looks to her right she sees her. 

Cheryl is over top the same boy who was just moments ago on top of Toni. She’s relentlessly and blindly beating fist after fist into his face, still seeing Toni gasping for air in her brain, replaying itself like a broken record. 

Cheryl’s always had an affinity for the colour red, but she can’t say she’s ever _felt_ red. Not until this exact moment right now. It’s the only way she would know to describe it. Red. It’s all she sees, as the blood from her own knuckles and the blood from the boy’s battered face mix together and obscures her whole vision. It’s all she tastes, as she’s biting down so hard on her tongue that’s she’s sure there’s even more blood flowing into her mouth, and coating her taste buds with the coppery flavour. It’s all she hears. The ringing in her ears has her deaf to any other sound. She doesn’t hear Toni saying her name, she doesn’t hear Sweet Pea and Fang’s breathy curses, she doesn’t hear anything but the blood pounding in her head. It’s all she _feels_. Red hot rage bursting into her chest, wrapping around her heart like thick, thorny vines, and squeezing it so tight that in this moment it is the only thing she feels. 

She can’t stop. 

Cheryl always goes too far. In everything she does. 

She can’t stop beating the ghoulie’s face in, not even long after he’s unconscious, long after he’s gone limp under her, with not a trace of fight left in his bloodied body. 

She never wanted to fight, she never wanted to hit someone, she never wanted to _abuse_ someone. But now that’s she’s started, she can’t fucking stop. 

Arms wrap around her middle, they’re soft arms, feminine arms, but strong and muscular all the same. 

Cheryl screams out in protest, wildly attempting to escape the firm hold around her. She doesn’t register who it is, or what’s going on, as she’s still paralyzed by all the red around her. 

“Cheryl, Cheryl,” Toni repeats, trying not to let her fear shine through her voice. She’s never seen Cheryl this way, she’s never seen her anywhere close. She feels guilty, even though she knows none of this was her fault, she still can’t help the guilt seeping through to her heart when she thinks about the promise she made to Cheryl. 

“Calm down, baby,” Toni pleads. She has no choice but to pull Cheryl down to the ground with her, as she couldn’t restrain her while standing. 

Toni pulls the still thrashing girl into her lap, she holds her close and tries to shush Cheryl’s screams and cries, while also trying to control the tears threatening to spill from her own eyes. 

Sweet Pea and Fangs watch on silently with expressions of shock. They didn’t know what to do, or how to help, and both were still feeling weary and weak from fighting. 

“Please, hun, come back to me,” Toni whispers, reaching out to take Cheryl’s bloody hands in her own. 

She’s looking over her extremely injured fists, when Cheryl finally lets a breathy “Toni,” escape her lips. 

“I’m right here,” Toni quickly reassures her, “I’ve got you.” 

Cheryl whimpers as the adrenaline begins to wear off, and reality returns to her. 

“It’s okay,” Toni says, “You’re okay.” 

Cheryl doesn’t seem satisfied by the words, and Toni can’t ignore the way the other girl is completely shaking in her hold. 

“Are you?” Cheryl questions slowly, still feeling confused and out of it, but coherent enough to know that it’s Toni that has her. 

“What?” Toni asks with a shake of her head. She didn’t understand how Cheryl could only be concerned with Toni’s well being at a time like this. 

“Yes,” she responds anyway, “Yeah, I’m okay, Cher, I promise.” 

The redhead relaxes ever so slightly at the words. That’s all that mattered. Toni was all that mattered. 

Sweet Pea moves forward, kneeling down next the girls with a hesitant expression across his face. 

He spares a glance to Cheryl, and then back up to share a nervous look with Toni. 

“We need to get out of here,” he starts, “Can you drive?” 

Toni stutters for a second, feeling dizzy from everything that’s just happened. “I guess so,” she tells Sweet Pea. 

Cheryl blocks out their conversation, barely noticing the feeling of bigger, rougher arms pick her up. No doubt Sweet Pea’s. 

It’s only hitting her now. The guilt of what she’s just done. What she promised herself she never wanted to do. What she promised herself she never wanted to be. 

She squeezes her eyes shut. 

_She went too far. She always goes too far._

**Author's Note:**

> pretty please leave a kudos or comment if you liked this! i really appreciate it.  
> also check out my tumblr if you want to @cheryl-in-a-barrel


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